Inflatable collapsible shelter



July 17, 1956 w. A. DARBY INFLATABLE COLLAPSIBLE SHELTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1953 EF f d INVENTOR William A. Dar b Attorney y 1956 w. A. DARBY INFLATABLE COLLAPSIBLE SHELTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1953 INVENTOR WLIILam A. Darb Attorney United States Patent INFLATABLE COLLAPSIBLE SHELTER William Augustus Darby, Massey, Ontario, Canada Application April 23, 1953, Serial No. 350,636

1 Claim. (Cl. 1351) This invention relates to housing enclosures and, in particular, has reference to shelters of the collapsible type.

Common collapsible shelters, e. g. tents, have a number of inherent disadvantages among which may be listed, the need for bulky and heavy supporting poles, and the multiple operations required in erecting or dismantling the shelter. In addition, such shelters are so constructed as to offer little, if any, resistance to the passage of heat rays, thereby making the shelter most uncomfortable in periods of extreme temperatures.

I have found that these disadvantages may be overcome by providing a collapsible shelter consisting of a plurality of dual walls joined at their bottoms to a floor and at their tops to a roof of similar construction, and integral inflatable means for supporting the said walls and roof in an erected position. Collapsible shelters of the latter type may be erected or dismantled with but little effort, and require no separate supporting poles. Further,

dead air is readily trapped in the space between the dual walls which, together with the fluid used to inflate the integral inflatable means, provides a structure having much higher resistance than usual to the passage of heat rays.

With these and other objects in view which may appear while the description proceeds the invention consists in the novel arrangement of cooperating parts shown in the accompanying drawings forming part of this application and in which:

Figure l is a part diagrammatic perspective view of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a part sectional elevation of this embodiment;

Figure 3 is a end view of this embodiment, and

Figure 4, is a section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote the same parts throughout, the numeral denotes a collapsible shelter which may be of any suitable cross section, but which, in the form shown, consists of a plu-- rality of vertical dual side walls 11 and 12, and vertical dual end walls 13 and 14 formed of a pliable material and joined at their bottoms by a pliable floor 27, and at their tops, to a more or less arcuate double roof 28 formed of the same material. As shown, all or part of the floor may be inflated to serve as a mattress. Disposed within the said walls and at a suitable distance apart are a plurality of inflatable sections 15 which extend across the said roof and are joined at their opposite ends to similar horizontally disposed inflatable sections 16, and which form the primary means for supporting the said walls and said roof. Formed in zig-zag fashion within the said walls and said roof and between the inflatable sections 15 are other inflatable passages 17 which serve as a secondary means of support for the said walls and roof, and which are communicatively connected to the said inflatable sections so as to be unidirectionally filled therefrom.

The said inflatable sections and passages are inflated through a suitably disposed master valve 18 from a source 19 of air or other suitable gas, and a plurality of suitably disposed valves 20 are provided for deflating the structure.

As shown, the end walls 13 and 14 are provided with suitable flaps 21 and 22 through which entrance to the shelter may be gained, and also with suitable ventilating ports as at 23 and 24, which ventilating ports are formed with adjustable foldable flaps as at 25 and 26.

Collapsible shelters constructed according to the teachings of this invention are compact, self-contained, quickly and effortlessly erected or dismantled, and comfortable.

It is believed that the construction and advantages of the structure shown may be apparent from the foregoing paragraphs taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings without further detailed description.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed it is understood that minor changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of cooperating parts may be resorted to within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

A collapsible shelter comprising vertical side and end walls and a transversely curved top wall, said walls being constructed of double layers of flexible material, a series of spaced apart inflatable tubes extending vertically of the side walls between the layers of material and across the top wall, longitudinal inflatable tubes between the layers of material at the top and bottom of said side and end walls having communication with said vertical tubes, continuous zig-zag inflatable tubes extending vertically of the side walls and across the top wall in the spaces between said vertical tubes, said zig-zag tubes having communication with said longitudinal tubes, means for admitting air into said tubes, and means for letting the air from said tubes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 468,455 Giessmann Feb. 9, 1892 2,297,150 Hunter Sept. 29, 1942 2,527,729 Hofl Oct. 31, 1950 2,531,678 Gledhill Nov. 28, 1950 2,591,829 Katzenmeyer et al. Apr. 8, 1952 2,656,844 Kreuzer Oct. 27, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,957 Great Britain Aug. 3, 1895 

